Tag: journal entry

Faith Comes By Hearing

On By josephbarlowIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Today is 10/17/2015, October 17th, but the number reminds me of one of my favorite verses in the Bible.

Romans 10:17
it says, “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.”
Faith comes into your heart as someone shares the gospel with you.
Faith comes into your heart as you hear something God promises, you have the opportunity to mix faith with it.

Now we know that each of us has been given the measure of faith, as a gift from God.
Romans 12:3 shares that with us. The faith we have to believe in Jesus comes to us as a gift from God in the first place. As believers we have all received the measure of faith.

Eph 2:8,9 says “Its by grace through faith that you have been saved and not from yourselves it is a gift of God and not by works so no one can boast.” So, the grace and the faith are gifts from God. Let’s make sure we receive those gifts. If you have received the gifts, open the package and enjoy every bit of them to the full.

Back to Romans 10:17
Faith comes when we hear the Word of God spoken to us. It is clear in the context of Romans chapter 10 that people need to hear the Gospel to be saved, but what about people who just read about it and get saved? If no one audibly spoke the Gospel to them are they saved? Or did hearing happen another way? Obviously people who read about the Gospel and get saved are truly saved, there’s no need to argue about that. If there were any reason to argue that, then people who are deaf could never be saved.

I believe ‘hearing’ happens another way. When I heard the Gospel, when I heard that I would never have to pay the eternal penalty for my sins because Jesus Christ took my penalty for me and that if I receive him now then he and I will never be apart. The implication of that is since he’s already done time in hell that I deserved and since there is no need nor reason for him to ever return to hell and I’m one with him now and he and I will be together for eternity then I’m not going to hell – now that’s good news. When I heard that good news I didn’t just hear it mentally. I heard it deep inside me. Something deep down woke up with that news. My spirit became brand new on the inside of me right then. I received the good news. I believed the gospel. Hearing was way deeper then just mentally saying “that’s a good idea, sign me up”. It was way deeper than that.

Faith comes by hearing: I heard God. I could feel Him pulling me. Deep down on the inside I was being 100% completely convinced of this ‘good news’. The hearing I believe they’re talking about in Romans 10:17 is a very deep hearing, way beyond the capacity or function of the human ear. Faith came when my heart heard God.

I believe the process is the same for anything we need to believe. I believe the rest of the scriptures must be heard and believed at that same level. Your heart must be awakened to truth and you can hear God’s heart on the inside of you convincing you, very deeply, of the truths that you are reading in the Word of God.

Let me pray for you:
Heavenly Father, I ask you to minister to my friend who is reading these words right now. Help them to get beyond just ‘head knowledge’ and get to where they know you and your promises very deeply and very intimately. Lord, I ask that they be completely internally changed by this forever. In Jesus’ Name!

God bless you my friend.

Today Was THAT Day

On By josephbarlowIn Uncategorized2 Comments

Well you never expect it to come. You know it will but you don’t know when. Will it feel different? When the day dawns on THAT day – will you know it? How do you prepare yourself? How do you make yourself ready for THAT day?

It’s 10:08PM right now. My Mom died this morning at 11AM. So it hasn’t been a full 12 hours yet. But today was THAT day.

I just turned 53 a few weeks ago. We came to have dinner with my Mom the day after Mother’s Day. Just two weeks ago. What a great time. Well, if you knew her, you’d know what I mean. With her you were always welcome, accepted and respected. She could talk to anybody and ask you the best questions. She was easy to talk to. Loving and accepting. She didn’t need to do all the talking, she loved to listen, that’s what made her a great conversationalist. So out to dinner at her favorite place. She had the stuffed pepper. I hate stuffed peppers. But she enjoyed hers. Nancy & I sat on either side of her at the booth.

We loved Teresa.

Later when we took her home she told us straight: “I’m ready to go!” We knew what she meant and we had heard some similar conversations before but she looked in good health. She was up walking around seemed to be doing fine. But when we said our goodbyes I had that feeling; that feeling you want to reject as insignificant or not valid; I had that feeling that this was it, this was my last time to see her. God was warning me. I didn’t want to acknowledge it. I wanted that impression to be wrong.

But we got the text last week: she broke her hip. Surgery planned, should be no problem. Surgery successful but got to keep her asleep an extra day, had a blood clot. Got to thin the blood a bit, easier to do when she’s sleeping. Today, text: turn for the worse, infection they can’t control, kidneys shut down, only ventilator keeping her going. 11am email: She’s gone.

My first response: you may think crazy, but I was elated! She’s walking the streets of Gold. She gets a hug from Jesus! God answered her prayer. We found out later she had prayed right before surgery, “Lord, take me now.” God had answered her prayer.

She was faithful. She showed up, got to work and kept on going.

I remember one time my older brother, Michael had run away from home. He got to the end of the street, she confronted him: “You’re not getting out of this! We’re going through this together.”

She showed up, got to work and kept on going.

That’s why at 87 she has over 80 descendants, some impacting the world very powerfully.

She didn’t quit.

She finished her race.

I’m having quite a proud moment for her right now. I love my Mom. I’m very proud of her.

Well done Teresa! Well done.

Your loving Son, Joseph 10th of 14.

Have Ears to Hear

On By josephbarlowIn Word From GodLeave a comment

This word the Lord spoke to me last week is part of what I was teaching Sunday at church about having ears to hear. We all put up too many filters in our hearts and minds to block out what we don’t want to hear. Sadly too often God’s voice is blocked out by those same filters.

We need to remove them. Listen to the sermon and ponder this word.

My child, you do hear my voice and the essence of that is the Father/Son relationship. You know your Father. You know when I’m speaking. You have willfully tuned in to hear. You want to know. Your heart is inclined to me. You want to hear me speak.

These are all tunings to hear:

  • your will,
  • your attention,
  • your time,
  • your peace,
  • your silence,
  • your honor.

All of these are dials to be tuned to gain audience, to gain access, to hear my voice.

Please click here to listen to the message where I shared this word.

Sin Is The Wrong Answer To Your Problem

On By josephbarlowIn Encouragement, Journal, Ministry, MissionsLeave a comment

Here it comes again. That same old temptation is back to try to take you down, to pull you away from God, to fill you with depression, condemnation and especially a guilty conscience. Remember, as I heard a preacher say years ago, ‘Sin is not the problem. Sin is the answer. But it’s the wrong answer.’ You see you may have an itch and you want to scratch it, but you need to see if your answer to that itch is God’s answer. Or else you may be falling into a trap.

Satan doesn’t parade answers to your itch in front of you to help you. He doesn’t tempt you because he likes you. He’s trying to kill you.

In John 14:30 Jesus said about Satan, ‘he has nothing in Me.’ You could say it another way, ‘He’s got no hooks in me.’ He tries but he is not successful in tempting me. There is nothing left in me to tempt me with.

1Peter 4:1 “Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin”.

Can you imagine being done with temptation? Being in a place where Satan has no hooks in you? Being literally unresponsive to the temptations paraded before you to get you to fall? Can you imagine that? Most likely your flesh can’t imagine that. Your flesh still wants to have its own way. But this verse in 1Peter 4 says that he who has suffered in the flesh is ceased from sin. Does that mean if you’ve been persecuted with bodily harm for the Gospel that you have an immunity to being tempted? It could mean that. (Stick with me, I’ll unpack that.)

So there are two kinds of suffering in the flesh to discuss then: there’s the persecution where someone has received bodily harm and there’s the kind where we cause our own flesh to suffer through fasting, denying the flesh its appetite. Paul talks about putting the flesh under. He talks about beating it and making it his slave.

We can be ruled by the demands of the flesh, the itch that screams at us, the desire that tries to pull us off. Or we can rule over the flesh, put it under, make it obey us. But fleeing something is not as good as pursuing something. Often times when trying to avoid temptation people try to ‘turn off the darkness’ instead of ‘turning on the light’.

What do you desire? If its godly, pursue it. If its not godly, not only should you not pursue it but you should change your desires. Set your heart on something good instead of something negative. Most often you will pursue what you desire. If you pursue godly desires, temptation is nowhere in sight. Instead of turning off the darkness, turn on the light of good, godly desires. Set your affections on things that God wants. Desire them, and desire them strongly. Now pursue them. That’s turning on the light.

Processing Your Morning Thoughts

On By josephbarlowIn JournalLeave a comment

Last night before I went to sleep I sat down with my laptop and spent some time journaling, talking to God. I write down what I want to say to him, then I listen to hear what he wants to say to me. I write it down so that I can read it, discern it, keep a record of it, let it strengthen me, encourage me and comfort me. So last night was really sweet; the Lord was speaking some pretty neat things and personal approval and affirmation. I felt so good about my relationship with Him. So I went to sleep peaceful, happy, very contented. It’s easy to sleep good after all that.

When I woke up this morning my first thought was unsure, I wondered, ‘How am I doing?’ I was presented with an opportunity to pursue getting out of condemnation. ‘I must be guilty about something!???’ But then I remembered that God is not mad at me. I remembered where we left off last night.

I remembered.

Condemning thoughts are not from God. He may convict you about something He wants to teach you and have you change in behavior or direction. But he won’t tell you you’re no good, hopeless or helpless. He won’t put you in a mental state of being unaccepted. He is a gatherer. He wants to gather people close to Himself. He wants to cleanse them of all guilt so there is nothing hindering a free flowing relationship. He loves you.

He wants you close to Him.

So when you wake up in the morning get control of your thoughts. Stay convinced of the fact that God actually likes you. He wants you close to Him. He wants you to know that Jesus’ forgiveness of your sins is all you need to come close to Him without any guilt.

We’ve got to learn to relax in this state of being forgiven and accepted by God and let ourselves get to know Him.

This has been His desire from the start.

So when you wake up in the morning choose your thoughts wisely. Let them tend toward peace, acceptance, forgiveness and union with God. He’s not mad at you. He loves you. Have a good day with Him.

Can You Fly Too?

On By josephbarlowIn Family, JournalLeave a comment

How long have I wondered what it would be like to fly? I have had dreams in which I could jump really high. Just any time I wanted I could jump up and get something or jump up and look at something, as high as I wanted. But the process has happened in my dreams so many times that I have had those weird moments when I’m awake when I wonder if it’s really true. Could I really jump as high as I want? Is it just a dream? Or has God been trying to train me for something? I sometimes feel like the processes I’ve experienced in repetitive dreams have been the Lord trying to lay some new roadwork in my thinking.

Many years ago I had a dream that I was jogging/running down a sidewalk when I just decided to jump up and float on the same path just two or three feet above the sidewalk. So I did. I was still going the same pace, I was just floating. I was able to stay aloft as long as I wanted. Now remember this was a dream.

Years ago my son, Mark, had been hearing me tell these stories at the dinner table or at our family meetings and he didn’t seem to grasp the fact that these were dreams I had been talking about. At our old church one day I was called upon to close the service in prayer. After I finished the prayer and dismissed the people Mark came running up to me very excitedly and said “Dad, wait! Show them how you can fly!” I had described my dreams so vividly that he perceived them as reality. That’s not altogether a bad thing. He still has that heart of simple faith.

In one of my dreams I was teaching a class where there was a platform in the front of the room. So, (remember ‘in my dream’) I wanted to demonstrate to the class how I could fly. I stood up on the platform and jumped off, simply floating like a balloon, gently to the back of the classroom. As I came to the back wall I had lost most of my altitude and I was almost to the floor. So, I pushed off the back wall, pushing myself up a little bit so I could return to the front of the class. I came back to the front of the class and at will I just landed. End of dream. It’s amazing how much rest there is in this state of flying or floating – that speaks of the rest of faith.

Another time (in my dreams) I was running and then floating above a sidewalk and there was a right angle coming up in the sidewalk so I wondered if I would be able to turn right while I was floating/flying. When I got to the turn I easily made it without effort and continued on. This flying thing is fun. It’s adventurous. It’s stretching my paradigms. It’s giving me some new thought processes.

I was speaking with a friend, who could be considered a prophetess, (this is real life now, not a dream) and shared the dreams with her. She looked shocked when I told her these things. She said excitedly, “Do you know what this means?” I said, “No, I’ve just been enjoying them.” She said, “God is trying to tell you that whatever you set out to do, nothing will be impossible for you. You can do anything you want to do.” So, I was pretty excited about that, but if you know the Word of God, you know that she didn’t give me anything that wasn’t already written in there to all believers. Yet I knew these dreams were from God. He was purposefully giving them to me so I would wake up in this area of faith – not for flying but for faith.

God desires to bring His Word and His truth into our lives and that they be so real, so encouraging, so believable that you can walk in what He says without doubting.

Thank you Lord for these dreams. Thank  you for training me in these dreams to believe you, to believe your Word that all things are possible to those who believe.

He wants to stretch all of us. He wants to grow us. He wants to put things into our hearts that will make our futures more satisfying, happy, fruitful. I’m loving this life. I really love the Lord.

Does this kind of talk make you wish you had experiences like this? I hope so. I write these things only to share with you and hopefully induce in you a hunger to know God. Seek Him. Draw near to Him. Ask Him to reveal Himself to you. To show you who He is. The Word of God says that He is no respecter of persons, meaning He doesn’t like me more than you.

If He will reveal Himself to me, ask Him to reveal Himself to you. Open the Word, and seek Him out. Listen to good preaching/teaching that reveals His goodness. You were created to hunger for this. When this hunger gets satisfied it is almost base, in the sense that it feeds a core instinctual need. God made you so He could fit inside. You are His hiding place. Let Him dwell in you. Let Him love you. Let Him train you for great things in your future. God bless you my friend.

Rest

On By josephbarlowIn JournalLeave a comment

Did you know it takes patience to rest?

I’m on a sabbatical right now and when you are used to doing, doing, doing then rest is not an easy process to yield to.

Resting is a process.

It allows your body, mind and soul to do things that couldn’t happen while you were so busy.

Activity inhibits some critical processes. Rest is not really rest in the truest form, it’s simply a change of processes.

Constant activity requires your body to stay in a constant state of defensiveness so that you can continue uninterrupted in your constant busyness. But this constant state of defense requires that other processes be reduced in their priority. Some never happen. Some healing processes never happen when we stay busy.

Rest is where you tell your body, “I’m going to slow down now and give you time to catch up, heal, regroup, re-assess, regenerate, reinvigorate.” There’s so much work that needs to be done inside us. If we think it’s unimportant we will never give time to it. Rest is more important than we know.

Did you know it takes faith to rest?

I know there is a God.

I know that I am not Him.

I know He’s bigger than me, more capable, more loving.

I know that He knows that I need rest.

So within His creation, His system, He has made room for me to rest, time for me to take a break.

When I rest I must trust Him for all the things that I was relying on myself for.

I must rest. He is good. He will take care of all those things. I need not worry. I need not fear. God is good. Good night! Time to rest.

Transition: By Natalie Barlow

On By josephbarlowIn Family, Father, Journal, TeachingLeave a comment

You know that feeling when you’re at the top of a roller coaster? You’ve gone up the steep incline, you see the exhilarating drop that is about to come, you’re nervous, excited, scared out of your mind, ecstatic, and peace seems like it’s completely out of your reach. It’s transition time. Yeah, that’s pretty much where life has been at lately… moving out of the home 3 months ago, getting engaged 2 months ago, most of the girls that I’ve mentored have gone off to college, so God has begun to bring new ones, my family is on a Sabbatical from ministry for the first time ever, I’m running the church with the rest of the team while they’re gone, and my brother just moved to California today. I feel so many things right now. Some good, some not so good. It’s not a common occurrence for me to just feel emotions but I know it’s a healthy time to do so. So here’s my processing. 

I miss my family. It’s finally been setting in that I’m an adult, living away from home, times with the family are no longer consistent, goodbyes have become more difficult and it’s really rough when I think about the fact that I won’t get to be a part of the daily life at home, watching my siblings grow up, and hearing and seeing every ridiculous and adorable thing that they do. Yet at the same time, I know I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. I love living on my own. Times with the family are now more intentional and “full”. My roommates are wonderful, no crazy stories here! I’m so blessed by each one of them… they are a true gift from God and I love doing life with them.

I’m so thankful to have the greatest fiancé in the world. For real, I know I talk about him a lot, but I will never fully be able to express the love and appreciation that I have for Danny. I’m so blessed to do life alongside this man, he challenges me, cares for me, he knows me. They say to be loved is to be known. I have never felt more known by somebody in my entire life, and yet loved so fully. Last night I finally let the tears flow, this week has been full of a lot of heavy things and big changes with my family and friends, and as I cried, he sat there and chose to just “be” with me. And after my face was swollen and I had used about 20 tissues, he then encouraged me in who I was, in the season I’m in, I think he saw that I was fearing the drop on this roller coaster, that I was looking at all the scary things that could happen, yet, he grabbed my hand, told me that we’re in this together, and showed me that this new season is good, that it’s okay to face reality, it’s a big change, but none of these changes are bad…they’re actually some of the most wonderful things that could happen! I began to realize that peace isn’t out of my reach.

It talks in the Bible about how God gives us a peace that passes all understanding. The truth is, that’s what I need right now. There’s uncertainty, there’s sadness, there’s joy, there’s fear, there’s heaviness, there’s A LOT of change, and it’s easy to think I have to carry all of this, but when I take a step back and look at it all, I see that His plans are good and they’re not supposed to weigh me down. All those negative things I feel are just feelings. They don’t define truth. They don’t define my life. It’s okay for me to identify that they’re there, but the minute that I step into letting fear control me, is the minute that I resist the peace that He has for me…and that’s all I truly want right now, so why hold on to fear? Why hold on to doubt and uncertainty when I could let go of those things and grab on to peace?! The peace that passes all understanding, it’s mine, and I choose to operate in this peace that allows me to throw my hands in the air, smile and laugh and enjoy the ride. Bring on that drop, I’m ready for this roller coaster!

All About The Business Plan

On By josephbarlowIn Ministry, TeachingLeave a comment

HEY! YOU WANNA START SOMETHIN’?

You get an idea. You see the world could be different if they all used your idea. If your idea was out there. If people were using it. If your organization was up and running. If it was full of employees producing your product or serving people. You see people coming by the masses. As you imagine, your visions get more and more detailed. You begin to play out scenarios in your mind and you see how you would handle them. Its getting exciting.  People are going to love this and I’ll be rich or I’ll be influential or I’ll be significant! Aahh! This flood of thoughts during this creative process is so exhilarating! But then…

Frustration sets in…

  • You see where you are…
  • You see how things are…
  • You see the distance from where you are to how they could be…
  • You see how far you’ve got to go…

But, my friend, let me tell you: I believe that what you’ve received or conceived is a gift. It could be a gift to the whole world. Let me encourage you. The world doesn’t have enough thinkers like you. There are not enough people who will lead others in making significant and lasting change.

New ideas create new products create new industries create new jobs create new strength in the economy brings reduced poverty strengthens families…well I think you get the idea. Your idea could really change things. Do you have the strength to bring it about? Remember, you can’t do it alone. You’ll need help. Find some people who could encourage you. Someone who is willing to take part in that creative process and believe in and work for the vision that you see.

Next it’s time to go back and capture the thoughts you had in that creative process.

  • How did you see this happening? Write it down!
  • What would you do in this scenario? Write it down!
  • What would you do in that scenario? Write it down!
  • What if the economy did this? Write it down!
  • What if you succeeded tremendously? Write it down!
  • What if you failed miserably? Write it down!
  • Capture all these scenarios. Write them down!

Now get a spreadsheet and start laying out the numbers.

  • How big will this be?
  • How many employees will you need?
  • How much will you have to pay them?
  • How many employees will you have to hire to manage all the employees you hired?
  • Will you do profit sharing?
  • What will you personally do with all your newly acquired wealth?

As you ponder, study and work through all these things it makes it easier for others to see what you are trying to create. Then they can begin to invest in it. They may invest time. They may invest money. But the clearer your vision…the clearer you are when you write this down…the more you think through and explain all the various scenarios then you are leading, and others will follow. They’ll see that this vision that you have is one that is worth working for.

Be encouraged my friend. The success of your vision is all about the business plan. And its a lot of work. But just like a mother giving birth to a child, what she’s been growing on the inside has got to come out. Write it all down, my friend. Get it all out. Then ask for help. Ask people to read your plan and see what they think. Let their comments help you refine what you’re seeing.

Let them sharpen you but don’t let them stop you.

Jealous Perspectives

On By josephbarlowIn Journal, TeachingLeave a comment

SO, YOU’VE HEARD THE SAYING, “THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE.” SO, HERE’S MY QUESTION: IS THAT TRUE OR FALSE? IS THE GRASS ALWAYS GREENER OVER THERE? MY ANSWER MIGHT SURPRISE YOU, BUT HOPEFULLY IT WILL GIVE US ALL SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT.

THE ANSWER IS: TRUE! THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE.

IF YOU’RE LOOKING DOWN AT GRASS YOU SEE GRASS WITH DIRT AROUND IT. YOU’RE SEEING FROM A PERSPECTIVE WHERE THE BLADE IS NOT GETTING ITS BEST SHOWING. HOWEVER IF YOU CHANGE THE ANGLE AT WHICH YOU ARE VIEWING THE GRASS, PERHAPS FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE, YOU’LL NOTICE THAT YOU DON’T SEE MUCH DIRT AND YOU SEE THE FULL SIDE OF THE BLADE OF GRASS. THINGS ARE DEFINITELY GREENER FROM THIS ANGLE. NOW IF YOU WALK OVER AND STAND ON THE GREENER GRASS YOU WERE LOOKING AT, THEN LOOK BACK AT WHERE YOU WERE STANDING BEFORE, NOW THAT GRASS LOOKS GREENER. IT’S ALL A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE. YOU MAY BE JEALOUS OF SOMEONE, BUT YOU MIGHT NOT BE IF YOU COULD SEE THE DIRT IN THEIR LIFE THAT THEY PUT UP WITH DAILY. YOU WERE GIVEN THE PERSPECTIVE YOU HAVE SO YOU CAN CHANGE THINGS THAT NEED TO BE CHANGED, NOT SO YOU COULD BE JEALOUS OF SOMEONE YOU THINK IS BETTER OFF THAN YOU.